AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 9T 



T. W. Field. — The nutritive part of a cucumber cannot exceed half of 

 one per cent, according to the most careful analysis. 



Mr. White, of Staten Island, corroborated the indigestibility of egg- 

 plants, and notwithstanding the encomiums of Mr. Lawton upon cucum- 

 bers, he thought the less we eat the better. 



Dr. Peck adverted to the great profit which can be derived from garden- 

 ing near this city. He read the following statement : 



A FIFTY ACRE GARDEN. 



Messrs. Editors ; — Thinking that a few facts and figures relative to 

 Garden Farming on Long Island would not be uninteresting to the read- 

 ers of your Rural, I took the trouble to question a " Long Island Farmer," 

 who is working just fifty acres of land, as to the amount of "truck" he 

 manages to take from his land, and the money he receives for it. He 

 kindly obliged me with the necessary figures, which enable me to make an 

 exhibit of his operations ; and as he required from me no bond of secrecy, 

 I take the liberty to expose him to the farming community, that all may 

 see what can be done on a small farm. 



The person referred to is J. Remsen Bennett, (a subscriber to the Ru- 

 ral,) of Bay Bridge, Long Island, six miles from New York city. His 

 land fronts on New York Bay about 400 feet, and extends back to the 3d 

 Avenue, running from Brooklyn to Fort Hamilton. Upon the water front 

 he has lately erected a mansion, which for completeness, beauty and con- 

 venience, will compare favorably with any farm-house in the country, hav- 

 ing all the modern appliances of water, furnace and gas. The gas is made 

 in a house erected for the purpose, a few rods from the dwelling, and is 

 used not only for house purposes, but is also conducted to his barns, car- 

 riage-houses, work-shop, store-rooms, &c., &c., which are all brilliantly 

 lighted as occasion requires. His barns and out-houses are all on a scale 

 ample and roomy, and constructed upon the most approved plans. 



His land is divided into lots of about equal size, lying each side of a 

 wagon-road running through the centre of the whole, and" terminating upon 

 the Avenue. The lands are divided by hedge and fence, and are all equally 

 accessible to the wagon-road. The hedge is used as a protection to the 

 young plants from the spring winds, and answers an excellent purpose. 

 Besides being a practical man, Mr. Bennett is an experimental farmer, 

 and no expense is spared and no labor considered too great in testing dif- 

 ferent manures, and trying the different methods of promoting early growth 

 and prime quality of vegetables. His manure bills are probably larger 

 than any other man's working the same number of acres. His hot-bed 

 gash, when in use, covers a space of 3,600 square feet. He employs three 

 men the year through ; eight men in the spring, and ten men in summer, 

 in addition to eight or ten women and girls for pickers, as the season ad- 

 vances and the crops mature. He also gives full employment to 1,000 

 bushel baskets and 150 barrels in getting his stuff to market, which, in 

 summer, is done by boats of his own, which he keeps constantly plying 



[Am. Inst.J 7 



